Being Human
by AlihandriaEllis
Summary: She was born wraith. But after being rescued from the wreckage of a crashed dart and turned human using an advanced version of the retrovirus, she becomes Cassandra, a woman with no clue as to what it means to be human. AU
1. Imagination

**Okay, hi. I'm new here. Well, to this genre anyway. Well, to writing fanfiction in this genre. Well, to posting fanfiction in this genre. Ok, maybe I'm not a COMPLETE noob :). Anywho, the only person who's seen this besides me is my best friend, Leaf_The_Muddy_Stormbringer. Read her stuff. She amazing. Anywho, if anyone's up to beta-ing this sucker, float me a PM please!**

**Disclaimer: I'm a teenage girl with a computer and too much time on her hands. No, I don't own Stargate.**

**I also reference Graceland by Paul Simon and Imagine by John Lennon in this. Not mine either.**

Cassandra never knew fear. She never knew hate. She never knew sorrow. She never knew pain. But she never knew joy. She never knew friendship. She never knew love.

The world, Cassandra was realizing, spanned much further than the hive.

As far as she was concerned, Cassandra was born May 16th, 2007 and that was the end of it. But the fact of the matter was that she was formerly a wraith and didn't have a clue as to how humans worked.

Her first lesson came from the music and literature she was given on a tablet two weeks after her turning.

"What is Memphis, Tennessee?" Cassandra asked Lieutenant Brian Jones, the man assigned to follow her and report her activities.

"Memphis is a city on Earth," he looked uneasy at the fact she was talking to him.

"City? What is that?" Cassandra leaned forward, curious. Brian found himself gripping his gun slightly tighter.

"A place where a lot of people live," he tried to explain.

"Like a village? And why does the music call it Graceland?" she tilted her head and blinked up at him.

"What?" now it was Brian's turn to be confused. Cassandra picked up the tablet and played the song.

"Why?" her eyes sparkled, eager to learn.

"It's an...expression," Brian tried to explain. "Do you get it?"

"No."

"Ask someone else."

Cassandra didn't even try to explain that Brian was her only real contact with the outside world.

"Graceland..." Cassandra mused as she sat on her bed, thinking about her time as a human.

The last thing she remembered as a wraith was the dart she was flying in crashing. She remembered the shots, but no emotion attached to the memory.

Awaking as a human was so different. Feelings, for the first time. It was...strange. The sound of shouting, a prick to her arm, then more black.

The next time she awoke, she awoke here. A plain room, no windows, a door and a bathroom with a small shower.

It was strange to see herself as a human the first time. Her hair was light blonde, almost white, with vivid green eyes and skin as pale as snow. She was tall, with sharp cheekbones and strong muscles. Cassandra spent many hours looking at herself, marveling at how her body changed.

So much weaker, but so much stronger. Only eating food-food, not human-food. Thirst. Pain when she hit her arm on the door.

A nurse explained how they had turned her human, how she would need to take her pills.

Cassandra took the pills, learning more about her food source, if nothing else. But she couldn't deny the longing to feel this way. To never feel the burn of wraith hunger again. And discovering what this species had created. Wraith never had music, writing or art. But these humans, the people she had been raised to consider food, had.

How, she had to wonder, did she live so long not knowing this?

She flipped through the files aimlessly, looking for something interesting, a new discovery. John Lennon, Journey...her eyes kept coming back to John. Smiling slightly, she selected the files and clicked on one named Imagine.

"Imagine there's no heaven, it's easy if you try..." blared from the speakers. Imagine. The thought stuck itself in her mind. She opened a new window and searched for what the word meant. Imagine. To form a mental image or concept of.

Imagine. A completely new idea to Cassandra. She shut her eyes and tried to imagine something. Atlantis. All she had seen was her room. Atlantis would have towers. Cassandra was sure of that. And light. Someplace so...liberating couldn't be dark. Buzzing with people. People with back stories. Warriors, scientists, healers, keepers. Each with a story.

A leader. A commander. Maybe he liked John Lennon too. And had blonde hair like hers. Or maybe brown, like Brian's.

She lost herself in the world of her mind for the first time that night. It soon became a regular occurrence, her own way to escape the walls that she was confined in, to explore the new realm her mind offered her.

**So, hope that wasn't too painful :). I update stuff on Fridays, so I should have something up then. Anyway, reviewers get hugs, I roast random crap on flames. Bye.**


	2. Dreaming

**Hello, people! OMG some people read this *does happy dance*. Many thanks to Twilli Princess Hyrule Queen and golden-priestess for putting this on alert and Padme4000 for reviewing AND putting me on alert. You all get cookies.**

**Well, this is a pretty short chapter. I literally just finished it :P I procrastinate a lot. Anywho, I'm gonna shut up and let you guys read.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Stargate, Sunday never would of happened. The pile of tissues in the corner, however, proves that me owning Stargate is just a dream.**

A week later, Cassandra remembered her first dream. It wasn't all that bizarre, just walking around the Atlantis that her mind had devised, but it was her first. And so she shelved it away to be permanently secured in her mind.

She was exploring the Eagles that night. The melodies were beautiful, but she couldn't understand most of the words. What was love? Hate? The friendship these people spoke of? All it did was confuse her.

She lay back and appreciated the music whilst thinking about the dream. Why did she dream? Was it a way for her mind to tell her body what she wanted?

Well, she had to admit the room she was confined to was quite boring. Brian didn't like to talk, so it was just her, her tablet and her thoughts.

When she was wraith, Cassandra had never cared for the sun, or the sky, or the stars. But now that she was human, she couldn't help but to long for the feeling of wind in her hair and sunlight on her face.

"Brian?" she walked to the door. He turned and looked at her, hand gripping his weapon once again.

"What?" he muttered gruffly.

"Can I go outside?" she blinked up at him from under her eyelashes.

"No," he turned to the front and proceeded to ignore her.

A few more days passed until, one day, a new person walked through her door.

"Hello, Cassandra," the woman was quite different from her, with coffee hair and bronzed skin. Her eyes shone with a warmth, but you could see the warrior within. Cassandra smiled and stood from her bed.

"Hello. Who are you?" she grinned, thrilled to have someone talk to her.

"My name is Teyla Emmagan," she introduced herself. "I'm going to show you something."

They walked in silence down a deserted hallway until Teyla turned and opened a door. Sea air engulfed the duo and Cassandra ran out onto the balcony.

"Oh, it's more beautiful than I imagined!" Cassandra laughed, leaning against the railing. Teyla blinked at her in surprise.

"You can imagine?" she was taken aback by the development.

"I taught myself to. Wraith can't, though. I think I like being human more that being a wraith. It's strange...it's like I'm weaker, but I'm stronger. It's confusing. And when I look at what humans have created..." Cassandra turned to Teyla. "I once believed humans were inferior to the wraith. Now, I'm not so sure."

"Do you want to stay here?" Teyla seemed to be a bit...shocked.

"I can't go back. They'll know something's changed about me," Cassandra shook her hair out. "The wraith I was died the moment those doctors injected me."

"I'm sorry," Teyla touched Cassandra's arm hesitantly. Cassandra shook her head.

"Don't be. What's done is done," she turned back to the ocean. "As a wraith, I could never appreciate this. The sky. The sun. The ocean."

They were silent until Cassandra had to go back a few minutes later.

"Thank you, Teyla Emmagan," Cassandra smiled from her door. "Please come again."

"I will, Cassandra. And call me Teyla."

Cassandra dreamed again that night, and for every night from that point forward. Yet another boundary had been lifted from her mind, making her more and more human each day.

**Do you want a virtual cookie? Then review. Flames are used to bake the cookies on, follows and favorites will also get cookies. So just tell me you're there. It's really quite easy. Plus the more feedback I get, the more I'll write. Anyway, I love you all, bai!**


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